


Tee-ball is pretty good, too.

by GayForWerewolves



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And Lots of It, Baker/Barista!Bilbo, Fluff, M/M, Ori is the Ri family's accidental miracle baby which is why his brothers are so much older, Rating May Change, Rival tee ball teams where only the adult coaches are fully aware that there's a rival going on, Slow Burn, This is possibly the most self indulgent fic I have ever written, Thorin's internal screaming gives me joy, may add more later, oblivious idiots being stupid and cute, quite a few deaged characters, so many characters - Freeform, tee-ball coach!Thorin, the kids just like running and getting orange slices afterward, we'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 21:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5020369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayForWerewolves/pseuds/GayForWerewolves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thorin is a local tee ball coach and Bilbo signs his nephew up, hoping that the boy will make some friends this way. What he wasn't expecting was for the coach to be so hot or for literally all his friends to be on team "you two should totally make out."</p><p>Bilbo works at a cafe that Thorin's cousin Dwalin suggested to him. What Thorin didn't expect was for the barista to be so damn cute and then for him to show up with his nephew at tee ball practices later in the week. And he definitely didn't expect for his *entire* family to be on team "You two should date"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tee-ball is pretty good, too.

**Author's Note:**

> My best friend and I were eating froyo last weekend and thinking “hey why aren’t there a bunch of froyo shop AU, that would be adorable” (which I might write later, we’ll see) Then we just started to think of all the best AU and kept throwing cute AU ideas at each other for various otps.
> 
> The next morning she sends me this over text: “THORIN IS THE PEEWEE BASEBALL COACH FOR KILI AND FILI'S BASEBALL TEAM, BILBO TAKES HIS NEPHEW FRODO (SCRUNCHED TIMELINE WHO CARES) TO PRACTICES” 
> 
> And then I made it even cuter by making it TEE BALL!!! They’re tiny babies and OWO YES this fic was born.
> 
> Beta read by previously mentioned best friend, [thecrackshiplollipop](http://archiveofourown.org/users/thecrackshiplollipop)

Bilbo was still getting used to the fact that he was now a parent. Technically he was an uncle, but since his sweet little nephew had nowhere else to go now that he was an orphan, Bilbo had been thrust into the role of caretaker, much earlier in his life then he had ever intended to be. But Frodo was a (relatively) well behaved child and seemed to like many of the same things that Bilbo already enjoyed on his own so the two were quickly becoming more comfortable as a family unit. The only worry that Bilbo had was that Frodo didn’t seem to be making friends at school very quickly. Luckily for him, Frodo’s first grade teacher was also Bilbo’s good friend Bofur and so it was easy for him to discuss his worries with him over the phone and a cup of tea once Frodo was tucked away in bed.

“I just don’t want him to spend all his time with adults and end up rather odd, like I did.” Bilbo said to Bofur over the phone. He could hear Bofur laughing good naturedly and the soft clinks and clicks of his friend moving around his own kitchen that indicated that Bofur had him on speaker phone.

“Don’t put down your own oddness so much.” Bofur said as Bilbo heard him turning on the water and frowned at the distracting sound. “But I understand the worry. Lot’s of parents worry about their child making friends. Some kids are just shy. But Frodo’s probably still a little withdrawn from the accident and having to move towns. He’s a kid, and they can bounce back pretty easy but not everything is going to be like that. Just give him a little time. He’s nice and fun. Someone’ll eventually realize that and want to be his friend.”

Bilbo nodded even though he knew that Bofur couldn’t see it and took a sip of his tea, sighing, still worried as he swallowed. Bofur could hear the worry in the sigh’s tone through the line.

“If you’re really that worried, sometimes extracurricular activities are a good option. Do you think he’d like sports? Not anything really rules heavy, mind, just some fun physical activities for little ‘uns.” Bilbo heard the whistle of Bofur’s teapot over the line and mulled it over as he listened to his friend make a cup of tea.

Frodo did enjoy running around in the park and, while Bilbo’s manicured garden was a little hard to exactly run in, he did enjoy playing out there as much as he could. Bilbo decided that, yes, Frodo probably would enjoy some sort of sport. And if it helped him to make friends, who was he to say no to at least trying it.

“Probably.” he said, taking a thoughtful sip of his tea, “I take it you have something in mind?” Bofur chuckled over the line and Bilbo could picture his good natured smile and nod.

“My friend Nori’s little brother is joining a tee ball team this year. I’ve had students on the team before. Been to a few games here and there. The coach is a little serious, but he’s a nice guy, really.” Bofur paused and Bilbo listened to him take a sip of his tea “Not bad on the eyes either.” Bilbo could hear the teasing dripping from Bofur’s words and his friend chuckled on the other end of the line. “A bit your type, too.” He added. Bilbo turned red even though Bofur couldn’t see him, he just knew that on the other end of the line there was a mischievous grin and a waggle of eyebrows aimed in his general direction. Bofur had been trying to set his friend up for ages and it usually ended disastrously. But Bilbo sighed in resignation. This was probably the best way to help his nephew build some real friendships, and if that meant that Bilbo had to suffer being around someone who was probably very attractive but horrendously off limits, he would endure.

~~~

The next day, after dropping off Frodo at school, and attempting to ignore Bofur’s subtle teasing look, Bilbo was distracted while at work. He thought about Bofur’s grin and how it just looked like a cheerful morning greeting between good friends, but Bilbo had known the other man long enough to know the difference between his teasing grins and his normal grins. There must be something particularly alluring about this tee-ball coach that had Bofur so filled with mischievous glee for Bilbo to meet him. Lost in his thoughts, Bilbo missed when Bombur rang the little bell from back in the kitchen that meant that a batch of the day’s baked goods was ready to be sorted into the display case. Bombur hit the bell several times before coming out to see what could possibly be distracting Bilbo so much that he wasn’t paying attention to the bell.

“What’s got you so dreamy, then?” Bombur asked, hands on his hips. Bilbo was pulled abruptly from his musings, flushing a light pink. He scrambled back to the kitchen and apologized profusely, grabbing the pastry cart full of trays of fresh baked muffins and scones. 

“Just something stupid your brother mentioned,” Bilbo said with a grin as he was pulling the cart behind the counter and Bombur nodded in understanding mouthing a silent “oh” before going back to the kitchen to start kneading the ciabatta for the day’s lunch rush.

Bilbo was sorting the fresh batch of baked goods into their proper places in the display case when the little bell tied to the front door tinkled softly, indicating that the first customer of his shift had arrived. Without looking up from his task of trying to get all the cranberry and orange muffins to fit in the bottom shelf of the case, Bilbo raised his hand above the counter and waved it about to indicate there was someone present to take orders and called out, “be with you in a minute!”

He stood up, dusted his hands off on his apron and looked up to smile at the patient customer, finding himself almost assaulted with how attractive the man standing in front of his counter was. At least, that was how he was already planning on describing it to Bofur later. He was tall, and while it was easy to be taller than Bilbo’s five feet-nothing, this man would be tall by most people’s standards. His face was a glorious combination of chiseled features and well taken care of dark beard and his hair was thick and looked soft. Bilbo had to almost physically restrain himself from not doing or saying anything stupid.

“Hello!” He said cheerfully, hoping his voice didn’t sound too high pitched and eager “Welcome to The Moria Cafe, what would you like?” The gorgeous man smiled briefly at him and perused the drink menu written in Dori’s neat and lovely script on the chalkboard above the counter. Several other customers entered the cafe, a few queueing up behind Bilbo’s tall, dark, and handsome customer, most settling their things into tables before coming to order.

“London Fog and” the customer paused, leaning back slightly to look at the contents of the display case “Your freshest baked good?” his inflection indicated that he wanted to know exactly what that was before he committed to anything, with one perfect eyebrow slightly cocked in Bilbo’s direction.

“That would be either our cranberry orange muffin, or blueberry scone.” Bilbo shrugged and smiled “Came out at the same time.” He explained. The customer nodded, another semi-smile quirking at his lips.

“The scone, then. To go,” he said. The handsome customer paid and Bilbo got him his scone and made him his latte, while taking other orders. Once the dreamy customer had his latte in hand, he nodded a polite farewell to Bilbo and was gone. Bilbo would have been more upset if he wasn’t swamped with drink orders and cursing Dori’s existence for being delayed yet again. As it was, he still felt the loss and hoped the glorious man would come into the cafe again, and soon.

~~~

Thorin made it to his car while still maintaining his composure. He set down his scone and put his latte in the drink holder and then turned on the radio before putting his head down on his steering wheel. He was going to kill Dwalin.

The week before, while having a drink after work, Dwalin had somehow brought up the cafe that his boyfriend’s older brother was part owner of and despite growing up in the area his whole life, and his family’s quarry employing a little over half the town, Thorin had still never been to The Moria Cafe. Dwalin had been mock appalled and informed Thorin that he was, in fact, missing out. There had been a sort of glint to his cousin’s eyes when he said it but Thorin had been too tired and slightly intoxicated to pay it any mind. But now, as he sat in his car thinking about just how _cute_ the barista had been, he was aware of exactly what the glint had meant.

Thorin started up his car and pulled out of the parking lot. He turned onto the main road, headed for work and told his car to call Dwalin. His cousin picked up with a “mm?” and Thorin tried and failed at not being angry.

“Fuck you.” he said over the line and heard Dwalin crack up on the other end “You knew exactly what you were getting me into, didn’t you?” Dwalin’s laughter subsided to a slight chuckle.

“He started working there a few months ago.” Dwalin said “Worked in a bookstore before, I think. That’s what Nori said. He went to pastry school. He’s technically the assistant baker at Moria now. Cute, huh? Just your type, I’d say.” Thorin could hear the smug satisfaction in Dwalin’s voice and grumbled to himself as he took a sip of his latte while at the stoplight. It was perfect. He smiled to himself and vowed to not let Dwalin have the satisfaction of knowing that just a stupid latte made by a cute baker could make him feel this dopey. This light was always irritatingly long and Thorin took a few minutes to think about the cute baker while Dwalin changed the subject to the first tee-ball practice of the year that was happening on Saturday.

He had been so small and soft looking in his flour dusted green Henley and maroon apron as he smiled up at Thorin in greeting, bright as any ray of sun. Thorin had been trying so hard not to make a complete idiot of himself that he had pretended to be paying attention to the chalkboard menu above the counter for longer than he needed to. He had known what he wanted, yet all thoughts of drinks had flown from his mind. He usually ordered an iced coffee with milk, he didn’t know why he ordered the London Fog. It was good though, and made by the cutest person in town, so he wasn’t complaining. Back in the cafe he had been grateful for the influx of customers behind him that had offered him a short while to watch (admittedly, creepily) as his drink was being finished. The sun from the large front windows had shone off the cute baker’s curls, making them look like spun honey and Thorin had been, and still was, beating himself up about getting so sappy over someone whose name he didn’t even know.

“...and Ori’s finally old enough to join the team, so Nori is going to bring him to the first practice to see if he likes it and wants to continue.” Dwalin paused and Thorin realized he was supposed to have been listening, blinking out of his stupid daydreams as the light turned green. 

“Oh. I see.” Thorin hoped that was an appropriate response to whatever Dwalin had been saying. His cousin chuckled so it apparently had not been. ‘Damn’ Thorin thought to himself as he pulled into the entrance of Erebor Quarry and Stone Yard. He rolled his window down to find Dwalin smirking at him from the security booth.

“Don’t start.” Thorin warned as he handed over his security badge to be buzzed into the facilities, and if there was a small bit of pink high on his cheeks that was no one’s business but his own.

~~~

It was Saturday morning and the first tee-ball practice of the year was taking place in the field behind the middle school. Thorin was busy checking the supplies, making sure everything was set up and he had all the papers he needed while Dwalin, who was his assistant coach, was greeting families at the fence. The sound of kids happily screaming and excited for a day of tee-ball were traveling over the air. Thorin heard his sister, Dís’ voice over the other sounds and looked towards the fence to wave. Instead he was hit square in the knees by the dark brown and blue little blur that was his nephew, Kíli, running straight into him at top speed. He stumbled a little, looking down at the over excited little face grinning up at him. Kíli had been looking forward to being on the team for an entire year, coming to Fíli’s practices and constantly asking his mother and uncle _“when!?”_

“Uncle Thorin, Thorin, Thorin,Thorin I get to be on the team this year!” He said while excitedly hopping from one foot to the other. Thorin smiled at him and ruffled the little boy’s unruly hair before gently nudging him to turn back around and saying “go find your brother”. Kíli was off and running again in search of Fíli. Thorin shook his head at the boy’s antics and finally did manage to smile and wave at his sister from across the field. Thorin did one last bat count and was about to go greet the families when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around and saw Bofur smiling his friendliest smile at him. He liked Bofur, even if he was sometimes overly happy about everything. The man was a local first grade teacher and every year he had students on the team and came to all the games to cheer them on.

“This is my friend Bilbo.” He said gesturing to the man standing next to him “and his nephew Frodo. He was worried about it not being okay to come since they’re technically not signed up yet. I told him it’d be fine but that I’d come with anyway.” 

Thorin nodded before actually really looking at the man, Bilbo, just as he was looking up at Thorin from gently reassuring his nephew that it would be okay. The two locked eyes and Thorin swore his heart stopped for a moment.

“Bilbo, Thorin. Thorin, Bilbo!” Bofur said as a cheerful introduction. Bilbo laughed a little nervously and tucked one of his spun honey curls behind his ear and Thorin had to yell at himself internally not to stare.

“We’ve met.” Bilbo said causing Bofur to give him a confused look. Bilbo glanced at him briefly but went back to smiling at Thorin “He came into the cafe.” He explained. “So, Thorin?”

Thorin nodded and stuck his hand out for Bilbo to shake, not quite trusting his own voice yet. Bilbo’s hands were softer than he expected of a baker and his internal screaming got a little louder. 

“Mmhm. Bilbo?” 

Bilbo nodded.

“And this is my nephew, Frodo.” He let go of Thorin’s hand and gestured to the small child with a mop of dark brown curls half hiding behind his leg. Thorin smiled at the child and he smiled back before hiding his face once more against his uncle. Bilbo smiled warmly at his nephew and then looked back up at Thorin “I was hoping he could join the team. He’s not signed up to though, he’s...new to town.” Thorin wondered what the pause was but skipped over it to go into team manager mode.

“Sure!” He said, “No problem. You just need to fill out a few forms and bring them back to next practice or get them to me before, if you can.” Thorin addressed Frodo directly “You can go play with the other kids while your uncle signs a few forms, right?” Frodo looked at the kids, then back to Thorin, apprehensive. “My nephews are over there and I’m sure they’d love to play...” he looked over to where the boys were chasing each other “...tag, I think, with you.” Frodo looked up at Bilbo who smiled at him.

“It’s okay.” he said, nudging Frodo gently “go have some fun.”

Bofur, who both Bilbo and Thorin had, embarrassingly, completely forgotten about, knelt down next to Frodo. “How about we go over together, hmm?” he said and the little boy nodded with a little more confidence and said “okay”. As Bofur was walking away be threw a knowing smile at Bilbo over his shoulder, to which Bilbo internally cursed his friend’s everything.

Bilbo turned back to smile, slightly embarrassed, at Thorin and Thorin swallowed deeply before letting his own lips quirk up as much as he dared.

“So, forms to fill out?” Bilbo asked and Thorin nodded.

“They’re on my clipboard over on the bench. I’ll give them to you to look over while we practice. Parents and other family usually sit on the sidelines during first practice.” Bilbo nodded at Thorin in understanding and once more smiled his sunshine smile in his direction, and Thorin found himself wondering how he was going to survive this season of tee-ball with his heart intact.


End file.
